Occidental Posts $2.2B Loss, Deepens Spending Cuts
Occidental Petroleum Corp on Tuesday swung to a first-quarter loss on writedowns and charges, and the troubled U.S. oil producer cut its budget for the third time since March in response to a historic oil-price crash.The company has been struggling with debt taken on in last year's $38 billion acquisition of Anadarko Petroleum, an ill-timed bet on rising shale oil prices ahead of a market dive.Global energy demand has tumbled amid coronavirus-related travel and business restrictions and a glut of oil from a price war. U.S.
IOG Delays North Sea Project Financing
UK based oil and gas development & production company Independent Oil and Gas Plc (IOG)cautioned that current oil price volatility and capital market conditions aren’t conducive to deliver its financing plan for the core Southern North Sea project before year-end.The company which explores for and develops oil and gas properties in the North Sea said in a press release that it was ready to enter the execution phase of its core development project in the UK Southern North Sea…
Bankrupt Breitburn Rebuffs $1.8 bln Bid
U.S. oil and gas producer Breitburn Energy Partners LP, which has been in bankruptcy since 2016, does not plan to pursue an unsolicited $1.8 billion cash offer from Lime Rock Resources, according to court filings. The offer from Houston-based Lime Rock, which invests in oil-and-gas properties, surfaced last month as Breitburn was awaiting a ruling on its bankruptcy reorganization plan. The confirmation hearing ended in January after a bitter valuation battle between Breitburn and its shareholders who argued it undervalued the company.
ConocoPhillips: Slow & Steady Wins the Race
ConocoPhillips has beaten its 2017 asset sales target less than four months into the year, after shedding $30.8 billion worth of energy assets in six years. But instead of a chorus of cheers on Wall Street, Chief Executive Ryan Lance is facing investor skepticism that the company can deliver growth from remaining oil and gas fields. ConocoPhillips' most recent sales of Canadian oil-sands properties and U.S. natural gas wells for…
ConocoPhillips sells San Juan basin Assets
ConocoPhillips, the largest U.S. independent oil producer, said on Thursday it would sell natural gas-heavy assets in San Juan basin to privately held Hilcorp Energy Co for about $3 billion. ConocoPhillips has been selling assets to reduce its exposure to profit-sapping natural gas assets and shore up its balance sheet. The assets, which span New Mexico and Southwestern Colorado, produced 124,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, about 80 percent of which was natural gas, ConocoPhillips said.
Shell Divests Non-core Shale Acreage in Western Canada
Royal Dutch Shell plc, through its affiliate Shell Canada Energy (“Shell”) has announced it has agreed to sell approximately 206,000 net acres of non-core oil and gas properties in Western Canada to Tourmaline Oil Corp. for a total consideration of approximately $1,037 million (C$1,369 million). The consideration is comprised of $758 million in cash and Tourmaline shares valued at $279 million. Subject to regulatory approvals the transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2016.
Chesapeake Receives DoJ Subpoena on Accounting for Asset Purchase
Chesapeake Energy Corp said it received a subpoena from the U.S. Department of Justice seeking information on the accounting methodology for the acquisition and classification of oil and gas properties. Shares of the company fell as much as 9.3 percent in morning trading. The No. 2 U.S. natural gas producer said in May that it had received subpoenas and demands for documents from the DoJ and some state government agencies in connection…
Seven Generations to Buy Some Deep Basin Assets from Paramount
Canadian natural gas developer Seven Generations Energy Ltd said it would buy some of Paramount Resources Ltd's Deep Basin oil and gas properties in west Central Alberta for about C$1.9 billion ($1.47 billion), including debt. Paramount said it would receive C$475 million in cash and 33.5 million class A common shares of Seven Generations. Seven Generations will also assume Paramount's senior unsecured notes worth about C$584 million due 2023.
SandRidge No Longer a DoJ Antitrust Target
Oil and gas producer SandRidge Energy Inc said on Friday the company is no longer a target of a federal grand jury probe concerning violations of antitrust law related to the leasing of oil and gas properties. The Oklahoma-based company had said in May the transactions subject to the government's inquiry date from 2012 and prior years. The U.S. Department of Justice notified the company of the end of the probe on Thursday, the company said in a regulatory filing. Reporting by Amrutha Gayathri
SapuraKencana Nets 16% Profit
SapuraKencana Petroleum Berhad announced its third quarter results for the period ended 31 October 2015 (for financial year ending 31 January 2016). Revenue for third quarter of RM2,891 million, year-to-date revenue of RM7,952 million. Profit before tax for the quarter (excluding provisions for impairment on property, plant and equipment, oil and gas properties, investments and changes in provision) of RM463 million with a profit before tax margin of 16.0%. Current orderbook of RM21 billion.
BP Buys Devon's New Mexico O&G Assets
BP Plc on Friday said its U.S. onshore unit has acquired all of Devon Energy Corp's oil and gas properties in the San Juan Basin in New Mexico for an undisclosed price. BP expects to take over operation of the 480 wells spread across 33,000 acres in the first quarter of 2016 after receiving required government agency approvals, it said. Battered by a crude downturn that has stretched for more than a year, many independent oil and…
Anadarko Outbid by Private Equity in Asset Contests -CEO
Anadarko Petroleum Corp is encountering stiff competition from private equity firms that have billions to spend on oil and gas assets, the U.S. independent oil and gas company's chief executive officer said on Wednesday. A slide in crude oil prices of more than 50 percent from last year has stirred intense interest in private equity investors looking for opportunity in the downturn. "Where we see ourselves today trying to bid on properties in markets where we have interest…
Occidental's North Dakota Deal Changes Oilfield Landscape
Occidental Petroleum Corp's move to sell its North Dakota acreage likely removes a logjam that had impeded U.S. oilfield deals for much of the year, though the deal's price sets an unusually low bar for future deals and gives buyers the advantage over sellers. Oxy is selling all of its roughly 300,000 acres in North Dakota's Bakken shale formation to a private equity fund in a deal valued around $500 million, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Miller Energy Charged with Fraud over Alaska Assets
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday charged Miller Energy Resources Inc and two executives with accounting fraud for overstating the value of Alaskan oil and gas properties that the company bought in 2009 by more than $400 million. In charging Miller, former Chief Financial Officer Paul Boyd and current Chief Operating Officer David Hall, the SEC said the inflated value helped the Knoxville, Tennessee-based company…
U.S. SEC Charges Miller Energy with Accounting Fraud
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has charged Miller Energy Resources Inc with accounting fraud for overstating the value of Alaskan oil and gas properties it bought by more than $400 million, transforming a penny stock company into one listed on the New York Stock Exchange. In an order instituting administrative proceedings, the SEC also accused former Chief Financial Officer Paul Boyd and current Chief Operating Officer David Hall of accounting fraud.
Devon Energy Has Quarterly Loss on Write-downs
Devon Energy Corp on Tuesday reported a net loss as the U.S. exploration and production company wrote down the value of oil and gas properties following the collapse of crude prices. Devon, based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, said its first-quarter loss was $3.6 billion or $8.88 per share, compared with $324 million, or 79 cents per share in the year-ago period. Oil and gas output was 685,000 barrels oil equivalent per day, down from 691,000 a year earlier. (Reporting by Anna Driver)
Oil Exec McClendon Faces US Antitrust Probe
Aubrey McClendon, the former CEO of Chesapeake Energy Corp, is under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice for potential antitrust violations related to leasing oil and gas properties, according to a regulatory filing by a new business venture he helps run. The disclosure, from American Energy Capital Partners-Energy Recovery Program LP, is the first to say the executive is personally facing government scrutiny. Chesapeake…
Dept. of the Interior Raises $539M in Gulf Lease Sale
The U.S. Department of the Interior sold leases on oil and gas properties in the Gulf of Mexico today, receiving $538.7 million in high bids. The U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Ocean Management (BOEM) took bids for 169 tracts on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf off Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, the Bureau announced in a press release. 42 offshore energy companies submitted a total of 195 bids totaling $583 million, meaning most of the tracts had just one bidder.
Chesapeake Energy Sees Asset Writedowns in Q1-filing
Chesapeake Energy Corp on Friday said in a regulatory filing it expects to write-down the value of its oil and gas properties in the first quarter, citing low oil and gas prices. "Based on the first-day-of the-month prices we have received over the 11 months ended February 2015, we expect to have a material write-down in the carrying value of our oil and natural gas properties in the first quarter of 2015," the company said in its annual filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Anadarko Petroleum Cuts '15 CapEx By a Third
Anadarko Petroleum Corp said on Tuesday it will reduce spending by about 33 percent this year, as the exploration and production company responds to lower crude oil prices. Oil prices have fallen by more than half since June as supplies from sources including North American shale fields grow in a time of waning demand. To conserve cash, exploration and production companies like Anadarko are slashing budgets and cutting rig counts.
